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How to remember facts. In speaking
of this phase of memory, we use

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the word fact in the sense of
an ascertained item of knowledge, rather than

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in the sense of a happening,
et cetera. In this sense, the

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memory of facts is the ability to
store away and recollect items of knowledge bearing

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upon some particular thing under consideration.
If we are considering the subject of horse,

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the facts that we wish to remember
are the various items of information and

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knowledge regarding the horse that we have
acquired during our experience, facts that we

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have seen, heard, or read
regarding the animal in question, and to

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that which concerns it. We are
continually acquiring items of information regarding all kinds

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of subjects, and yet when we
wish to collect them, we oft and

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find the task rather difficult, even
though the original impressions were quite clear.

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The difficulty is largely due to the
fact that the various facts are associated in

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our minds only by contiguity in time
or place, or both, the associations

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of relation being lacking. In other
words, we have not properly classified and

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indexed our bits of information, and
do not know where to begin to search

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for them. It is like the
confusion of the businessman who kept all his

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papers in a barrel without index or
order. He knew that they were all

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there, but he had hard work
to find any one of them when it

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was required. Or we are like
the compositor whose type has become pied and

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then thrown into a big box.
When he attempts to set up a book

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page, he will find it very
difficult, if not impossible, whereas if

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each letter were in its proper box, he would set up the page in

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a short time. This matter of
association by relation is one of the most

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important things in the whole subject of
thought, and the degree of correct and

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deficient thinking depends materially upon it.
It does not suffice us to merely know

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a thing. We must know where
to find it when we want it.

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As old Judge Sharswood of Pennsylvania once
said, it is not so much to

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know the law as to know where
to find it. K says over the

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associations formed by contiguity in time or
space, we have but little control.

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They are in a manner accidental,
depending upon the order in which the objects

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present themselves to the mind. On
the other hand, association by similarity is

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largely put in our own power,
for we in a measure, select those

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objects that are to be associated and
bring them together in the mind. We

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must be careful, however, only
to associate together such things as we wish

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to be associated together and to recall
each other. And the associations we form

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should be based on fundamental and essential
and not upon mere, superficial or casual

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resemblances. When things are associated by
their accidental and not by their essential qualities,

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by their superficial and not by their
fundamental relations, they will not be

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available when wanted and will be of
little real use. When we associate what

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is new with what most nearly resembles
it in the mind, already we give

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it its proper place in our fabric
of fire by means of association. By

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similarity. We tie up our ideas, as it were, in separate bundles.

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And it is of the utmost importance
that all the ideas that most nearly

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resemble each other be in one bundle. The best way to acquire correct associations,

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and many of them. For a
separate fact that you wish to store

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away so that it may be recollected
when needed. Some useful bit of information

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or interesting bit of knowledge that may
come in handy later on is to analyze

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it and its relations. This may
be done by asking yourself questions about it,

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each thing that you associate it with
in your answers being just one additional

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cross index, whereby you may find
it readily when you want it. As

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k says, the principle of asking
questions and obtaining answers to them may be

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said to characterize all intellectual effort.
This is the method by which Socrates and

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Plato drew out the knowledge of their
pupils, filling in the gaps and attaching

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new facts to those already known.
When you wish to so consider a fact,

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ask yourself the following questions about it. One where did it come from

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or originate? Two? What caused
it? Three? What history or record

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has it? Four? What are
its attributes, qualities, and characteristics?

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Five? What things can I most
readily associate with it? What is it

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like? Six? What is it
good for? How may it be used?

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What can I do with it?
Seven? What does it prove?

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What can be deduced from it?
Eight? What are its natural results?

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What happens because of it? Nine? What is its future? And its

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natural or probable end or finish?
Ten? What do I think of it

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on the whole. What are my
general impressions regarding it? Eleven? What

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do I know about it in the
way of general information? Twelve? What

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have I heard about it? And
from whom? And when? If you

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will take the trouble to put any
fact through the above rigid examination, you

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will not only attach it to hundreds
of convenient and familiar other facts, so

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that you will remember it readily upon
occasion, but you will also create a

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new subject of general information in your
mind, of which this particular fact will

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be the central thought. Similar systems
of analysis have been published and sold by

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various teachers at high prices, and
many men have considered that the results justified

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the expenditure. So do not pass
it by lightly. The more other facts

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that you manage to associate with any
one fact, the more pegs will you

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have to hang your facts upon.
The more loose ends will you have whereby

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to pull that fact into the field
of consciousness. The more cross indexes will

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you have whereby you may run down
the fact when you need it. The

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more associations you attached to a fact, the more meaning does that fact have

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for you, and the more interest
will be created regarding it In your mind.

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Moreover, by so doing, you
make very probable the automatic or involuntary

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recollection of that fact when you are
thinking of some of its associated subjects.

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That is, it will come into
your mind now tuly in connection with something

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else in a that reminds me fashion, and the oftener that you are involuntarily

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reminded of it, the clearer and
deeper does its impression become on the records

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of your memory. The oftener you
use a fact, the easier does it

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become to recall it when needed.
The favorite pen of a man is always

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at his hand in a remembered position, while the less used eraser or similar

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thing has to be searched for,
often without success. And the more associations

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that you bestow upon a fact,
the oftener it is likely to be used.

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Another point to be remembered is that
the future association of a fact depends

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very much upon your system of filing
away facts. If you will think of

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this when endeavoring to store away a
fact for future reference, you will be

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very apt to find the best mental
pigeon hole for it. File it away

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with the thing it most resembles,
or to which it has the most familiar

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relationship. The child does this involuntarily. It is nature's own way. For

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instance, the child sees a zebra, it files away that animal as a

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donkey with stripes, a giraffe as
a long necked horse, a camel as

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a horse with long crooked legs,
long neck, and humps on its back.

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The child always attaches its new knowledge
or fact onto some familiar fact or

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a bit of knowledge. Sometimes the
result is startling, but the child remembers

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by means of it. Nevertheless,
the grown up children will do well to

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build similar connecting links of memory,
attach the new things to some old familiar

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thing. It is easy when you
once have the knack of it. The

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table of questions, given a little
farther back, will bring to mind many

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connecting links. Use them. If
you need any proof of the importance of

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association by relation, and of the
laws governing its action, you have but

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to recall the ordinary train of thought
or train of images in the mind of

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which we become conscious when we are
daydreaming or indulging in revery, or even

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in general thought regarding any subject.
You will see that every mental image or

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idea or recollection is associated with and
connected to the preceding thought. And the

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one following it. It is a
chain that is endless until something breaks into

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the subject from out side. A
fact flashes into your mind, apparently from

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space, and without any reference to
anything else. In such cases you will

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find that it occurs either because you
had previously set your subconscious mentality at work

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upon some problem or a bit of
recollection, and the flash was the belated

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and delayed result, or else that
the fact came into your mind because of

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its association with some other fact,
which in turn came from a precedent one.

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And so on. You hear a
distant railroad whistle, and you think

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of a train, then of a
journey, then of some distant place,

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then of someone in that place,
Then of some event in the life of

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that person, Then of a similar
event in the life of another person,

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Then of that other person, Then
of his or her brother, then of

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that brother's last business venture, then
of that business, then of some other

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business resembling it, Then of some
people in that other business, Then of

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their dealings with a man you know, Then of the fact that another man

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of a similar name to the last
man owes you some money, then of

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your determination to get that money.
Then you make a memorandum to place the

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claim in the hands of a lawyer
to see whether it cannot be collected.

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Now, although the man was execution
proof last year from distant locomotive whistle to

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the possible collection of the account,
and yet the links forgotten. The man

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will say that he just happened to
think of the debtor, or that it

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somehow flashed right into my mind,
et cetera. But it was nothing but

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the law of association. That's all. Moreover, you will now find that

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whenever you here mentioned the term association
of mental ideas, etc. You will

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remember the above illustration, or part
of it. We have forged a new

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link in the chain of association for
you, and years from now it will

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appear in your thoughts.